Milwaukie's baseball project is 'dead'

View full sizeTyler Tjomsland/The OregonianCORVALLIS, OREGON - Dan Lach, right, puts his arm around his son Nathan, 10, during a West Coast League baseball game featuring the Corvallis Knights and Kitsap Bluejackets on July 13, 2011, at Goss Stadium in Corvallis. Since talks fell through with the Northwest League, Milwaukie was in discussions with the West Coast League, a summer league for college players aspiring to play in the pros, but has since decided to end efforts to bring baseball to the city.

After more than a year of trying to lure baseball to Milwaukie, the city is ending its efforts.

Without a study on the economic impacts a West Coast League team would have on Milwaukie and waning public support for the project in the wake of talks falling through with the single-A Northwest League, the Milwaukie City Council decided to end the baseball project at its Tuesday meeting.

“Baseball in Milwaukie, as this project stands, is dead,” said Councilor Dave Hedges. “it doesn’t have the support of the citizens.”

Two weeks ago, the council voted to move forward on the project, directing city staff to produce an economic feasibility study on bringing in a team from the West Coast League, which features nine teams of promising college players. Councilors also asked for updated architectural plans for a 2,000-seat stadium in the city’s north industrial area, estimated to cost $10 million to $12 million, which Community Development Director Kenny Asher was able to get by Tuesday night.

The plan was for the councilors to wait to see the numbers before deciding whether to send a bond measure to fund the stadium to voters in November. But a deadline loomed. A ballot measure would have to be decided on by Thursday to make the November ballot. That left just 10 working days for city staff to get the reports needed done.

Asher said despite a strong effort to get the numbers on how much money would be generated by a team and stadium and the jobs the project would bring to the city, he didn’t have that necessary information for the council Tuesday night.

“It was a lot to try and do in 10 days and we were hustling toward that,” he said. “But we don’t have the numbers for that tonight.”

View full size360 ArchitectureThis was a possible layout for a minor league ballpark in Milwaukie.

Until recently, the city’s entire project, from the economics to the stadium, had been based on getting a single-A Northwest League team. It was projected a team from that league would bring $7.3 million to the city in the first year and up to $30 million a year in 30 years. But when talks with the league fell through, in part because Hillsboro secured the Yakima Bears, the city faced major changes to the original proposal.

Tuesday’s city council meeting in Hillsboro closed with an announcement that the Northwest League’s Yakima Bears were officially relocating to Hillsboro, as Major League Baseball had approved the deal.

Lightening the mood with some baseball puns, Milwaukie City Councilor Joe Loomis said the city had been thrown a curve ball by Hillsboro and equated Tuesday night to the last inning. He then jokingly suggested “thieves” and “scoundrels” as good names for Hillsboro’s team.

But it doesn’t seem the council will dwell on the project’s demise for long. Mayor Jeremy Ferguson said the city, and Asher, should direct effort and resources to Milwaukie’s Riverfront Park. The first phase of construction on the nearly $9 million project that will revamp the city’s riverside property begins in coming weeks.